Guest Author -- P.J. Mellor

We are happy to have P.J. Mellor with us on this Valentine's Day. When she's not writing her latest steamy novel, P.J. can be found enjoying the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to her love of writing and beaches, P.J. also enjoys sewing and swimming. A couple of her personal goals are to keep her checkbook balanced, make the NYT best sellers list, and return to her original weight -- five pounds, thirteen ounces. She is also known for her one liners, which means P.J. will fit in really well here at The Romance Dish. Join me in welcoming P.J. Mellor as she dishes on Valentine's Day.


Valentines. . .the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

As a kid, I always dreaded Valentine’s Day. It was just so much pressure. Know what I mean? You spend hours, if not days, decorating your little Valentine mailbox, only to sit in stressful angst while it seemed everyone in the room had their boxes full to over-flowing with little paper valentines. How many did you get? Dare you check? What if there were none? The stress—it was enough to give a child ulcers. Thankfully, my mailbox was never empty, but that didn’t stop me from worrying. Who needs that kind of stress? And am I the only one who thought the little hearts with sappy sayings on them tasted like Pepto-Bismol? Even at that tender age, I knew I preferred chocolate.

Then, adding to the stress, puberty arrived. It added a whole new mix of stress to my life. I knew I’d just die if I didn’t have a boyfriend, then it was what if I didn’t have a date? Wasn’t that something like one of the seven mortal sins for a teenager, to be dateless on Valentine’s Day?

In college, I realized there was yet more stress to pile onto St. Valentine. One year my roommate received seven—count ‘em, seven!—freaking flower arrangements. I had a steady boyfriend. What did I get? A phone call to tell me he’d decided he wanted to date someone else. Sigh. Many years later, I can admit what I did (although I am not proud of it): I poured salt into every one of those stupid flower arrangements while my roommate was out with beau #8. Not that it did any good. Apparently, cut flowers like salt water. Who knew? I also hate to admit it, but the next time I went home for the weekend, I tried to kick in the side of my now-ex-boyfriend’s car. BTW, car side panels are a lot stronger than they look. I broke my ankle. I guess it was justifiable punishment, even though I failed to even scratch the shiny finish.

My friend’s husband always took her to a nice restaurant for an elaborate Valentine’s Day romantic dinner. I was secretly jealous until he took her to the last one. That would be the one where he told her he was a woman trapped in a man’s body and was leaving her to get a sex change operation. She wins for the ugliest Valentine’s “present”. Now that I think about it, it was also pretty bad.

But not all Valentine’s are bad. When I was pregnant with twins, my husband not only brought me my favorite chocolates and perfume we really couldn’t afford, he capped it off by polishing my toenails! Of course, I couldn’t see them very well, but I appreciated it.

This year, I’m spending Valentine’s Day doing one of the things I love most—writing. My February 2011 release, ISLAND NIGHTS, is due this month. I’m having so much fun writing it, I don’t even mind working on Valentine’s Day! To add to my pleasure, my February 2010 book, BETWEEN THE SHEETS (a trio of very fractured fairy tales) came out a week or so ago. Yes, despite some seriously sucky Valentine’s Days, I’ve finally come to enjoy them. Now, if I could only find a way to keep the chocolate from going directly to my thighs!

So, how about you? How do you view Valentine’s Day? Any stories you’d like to share? Leave a comment for a chance to win one of my books.

Thanks for stopping by!